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Home»Governance»State-society relations»Communication & governance

Communication & governance

Responding to popular protests in the MENA region

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
April 2020

This review looks at government responses to violent protests in a selection of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Focusing on the 2011 Arab Spring protests, it finds that the initial response of most regimes was violent repression – Tunisia where the president stepped down, and Morocco and Jordan where the respective monarchies promised reform, are the only ...» more

Government Communication Capacity and Media Freedom

Helpdesk Report
  • Zenobia Ismail
August 2019

The aim of this rapid literature review is to examine the relationship between government communication services and media freedom. However, this relationship receives little mention in the literature on media development and media freedom. Hence, it is very difficult to reach a consensus on the relationship between government communication services and media freedom due to the ...» more

Strengthening the Financial Independence of Independent Media Organisations

Helpdesk Report
  • Zenobia Ismail
July 2018

This report is a review of the literature on interventions and business models which can help independent media organisations to become financially sustainable. The overall finding is that independent media in developing countries are primarily reliant on grant funding. Some independent media organisations in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East are generating revenue from ...» more

Youth initiatives supporting citizen engagement with government

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Orrnert
March 2018

There is a large volume of literature on youth participation in development, including on the benefits of involving young people in local, national, regional and global governance initiatives. Although not as voluminous, there is also a significant body of work on youth participation in civic life, though much of this focuses on issues of education and employment (Oxfam 2016) ...» more

Branding and communication of development assistance

Helpdesk Report
  • Edward Laws
November 2016

In recent years, international donors and non-governmental organisations have placed increasing emphasis on prominently branding the development interventions that they fund. Spreading knowledge about the identity of an aid project sponsor is one mechanism by which donor governments conduct local level diplomacy with direct beneficiaries and through which they hope to influence ...» more

Media and governance

E-Learning
  • Reading pack
  • James Deane
May 2016

In fast-changing media and communication environments more people are connected than ever before. While most acknowledge that the influence and impact of changing media and communication on governance outcomes is growing, the degree to which new media landscapes are contributing to more informed, peaceful and accountable societies remains in question.  For some, increasingly networked young,…» more

State-society relations and citizenship

Topic Guide
  • Huma Haider with Claire Mcloughlin
April 2016

State-society relations, citizenship and socio-political cohesion are areas of great importance to statebuilding and peacebuilding and are crucial to an integrated approach. State-society relations are defined by DFID as ‘interactions between state institutions and societal groups to negotiate how public authority is exercised and how it can be influenced by people. They are ...» more

Infomediaries and accountability

Helpdesk Report
  • Becky Carter
March 2016

The term “infomediaries” – or information intermediaries – is used to refer to actors who “synthesize, translate, simplify and direct information on behalf of others”. There appears to be strong evidence of the link between free media and better governance and government responsiveness on a range of issues (e.g. public spending on education and health). A DFID review on ...» more

Social media and governance

Helpdesk Report
  • Evie Browne
January 2015

The literature suggests that social media has a lot of potential to be used for governance purposes, but that this is not capitalised on in most contexts. Many governments are using e-government strategies and disseminating information through online channels, but not soliciting citizen feedback. Where there are two-way channels, it is very unclear whether citizen feedback is ...» more

Social media and conflict management in post-conflict and fragile contexts

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
January 2015

Some of the roles social media has played in conflict management include: In some cases social media and other new media tools have been used to help hold governments accountable, bring citizens together to protest violence, coordinate relief efforts, empower citizens, provide information to reduce tensions, and build bridges of understanding across boundaries. In other cases ...» more

Strategic communications and foreign fighters

Helpdesk Report
  • Shivit Bakrania
August 2014

Key Findings: There is limited coverage of strategic communications programmes specifically aiming to prevent the recruitment of citizens who travel to conflict zones to become foreign fighters. There is relatively more coverage of strategic communications with respect to broader counter-radicalisation or countering violent extremism (CVE) approaches, but there are few case ...» more

Interventions to counter hate speech

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Strachan
June 2014

There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to counter hate speech. There is a lack of rigorous impact evaluations in this area and those that do exist tend to focus on individual case studies. Interventions to counter hate speech which have had some success include: Television programmes: In Kenya four episodes of a popular television series were ...» more

Sending messages to reduce violent conflict

Helpdesk Report
  • Sumedh Rao
January 2014

Key findings Research for this helpdesk report did not find a specific body of literature focused on sending messages to change attitudes, norms and behaviour about violent conflict. Rather, there is a wide range of literature that covers interventions to address conflict, which include the sending of messages in one form or another, and often as part of a wider strategy. This ...» more

Civic education approaches and efficacy

Helpdesk Report
  • Evie Browne
May 2013

Key findings This report first presents findings on efficacy of Civic Education (CE), drawing on the work of Steven E. Finkel, who posits that CE must be repeated often; interactive; and given by a respected teacher. It then presents overviews of the approaches and efficacy of several programmes. A key finding is that the method used to deliver CE is important to its ...» more

Methodologies for measuring influence

Helpdesk Report
  • Josephine Tsui
March 2013

Rigorous methodologies for evaluating influence in “hard to measure” activities such as advocacy, lobbying, negotiation and knowledge uptake are still not well developed. There is a body of literature focusing on measuring influence, but evaluation efforts have been characterized as merely attempts, or even missteps (Reisman et al, 2007). While there are examples of practical ...» more

Changing attitudes and behaviours in relation to gender equality

Helpdesk Report
  • Huma Haider
June 2012

This helpdesk report surveys literature on strategies and initiatives designed to increase awareness and to change attitudes and behaviours in order to promote greater gender equality. The structure of the report is based on the following areas: religious influences; community-level processes, alongside media and social campaigning; and activities targeting men’s attitudes and ...» more

Impact of telecommunications reform on service delivery

Helpdesk Report
  • Claire Mcloughlin
May 2012

Telecommunications have been shown to have a range of direct, indirect and intangible benefits on development and poverty reduction goals (Bhavnani et al, 2008). Where the literature allows, the report includes examples of how telecommunications reform has enabled better service outcomes in fragile and conflict-affected states, and some of the challenges of implementation in ...» more

Mobile telephony innovation to improve education service outcomes

Helpdesk Report
  • Sumedh Rao
April 2012

There is a wide and growing interest in the use of mobile telephony to improve education service outcomes. The first part of the report identifies the key lessons learned and recommendations for policy makers relating to the use of mobile telephony to improve education service outcomes, though with a general focus on mobile phone-assisted learning. The second part identifies a ...» more

Social Media and Reform Networks, Protest and Social Movements

Helpdesk Report
  • Huma Haider
May 2011

The widespread diffusion of the Internet, mobile communication, digital media and a variety of social software tools throughout the world has transformed the communication system into interactive horizontal networks that connect the local and global. They enable citizens to interact and can accelerate cooperation and action. This helpdesk research report looks at the role of ...» more

Impact of Communication for Development (C4D)

Helpdesk Report
  • Claire Mcloughlin
March 2011

Development agencies are increasingly recognising the potential of communication for development (C4D) to improve development outcomes and to enhance the overall effectiveness of aid programmes. This coincides with growing evidence of the impact of C4D on the MDGs. This report provides some practical, tangible examples of where C4D activities have improved development outcomes ...» more

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